Dealing with blocked tear duct

My seven months old kitten has been diagnosed with a blocked tear duct. He had a URI when I got him at about 3 months and it's probably this that caused it. We've tried several different antibiotic drops and ointments but it hasn't helped. So now the vet says that it's a blocked tear duct. According to him it can be fixed with surgery but that would only be for cosmetic reasons and that the blocked duct and the discharge that it causes is not harmful or uncomfortable for him. However from what I've read online it can be harmful and uncomfortable.
Does anyone here have any experience with this issue? If so, how have you dealt with it? Is it worth having surgery done on the eye or is it better to leave it the way it is? How much is the surgery? Is there any other treatments that could help my guy?

My Wellington has just surgery for this, and the vet found that actually he did not have a proper tear duct at all, so there was nowhere for the tears to go. He got some dirt in his eye and it caused an ulcerated infection. He is fine now, but I have to wash his eyes out regularly to ensure no infection recurs. The vet procedure was simple.

Wellington always had 'dirty eyes' that I cleaned almost every day, but everyone just said that it was a normal condition and would not cause trouble. So I would do it if you can - at least then you know if there is anything extra beyond just a blockage, and prevent problems in the future.

Our Whisper has a blocked tear duct and has had it for years. When we first got her inside and noticed it, our vet said that it was blocked. They could unblock the duct and clean it out, but he said that it would be painful for Whisper. And he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't block up again.

Turns out that BooBoo, her son, also has a tear duct problem, and in his left eye, too. Maybe it's genetic. Again, the vet explained that he could unblock it, but there's no guarantee it wouldn't block up again. Since the cats are geriatric (Whisper will be 16 and Boo just turned 14), we take them to the vet every six months for physicals and the vet checks their eyes, too.

We couldn't see putting them through the pain of unblocking it, esp since it could block up again. It doesn't seem to bother them, so we leave it alone. We keep their eyes as clean as we can; there are no infections or anything like that.

Ootay (rb 5/09) had a blocked tear duct most of her life. Not all the time, just periodically her eye would start to water. I simply kept her eye clean until it stopped.

Usually it went away after a few days. If it went into an infection she went on antibiotics.

When she was 11, she had a lymphoma removed (in her hip). All went well until the stitches were removed, and she developed an abscess at the site. She was on massive antibiotics for a couple of weeks, and the blocked tear duct problem seemed to go away completely after that for 8 years, and then came back in her last year of life some what.

Unless your vet thinks there is some serious health issue, I myself, would not have anything invasive done.

There is, however, the possibility of your kitten carrying the herpes virus, putting him on l-lysine will help, if this is the case.

Ootay (rb 5/09) had a blocked tear duct most of her life. Not all the time, just periodically her eye would start to water. I simply kept her eye clean until it stopped.

Usually it went away after a few days. If it went into an infection she went on antibiotics.

When she was 11, she had a lymphoma removed (in her hip). All went well until the stitches were removed, and she developed an abscess at the site. She was on massive antibiotics for a couple of weeks, and the blocked tear duct problem seemed to go away completely after that for 8 years, and then came back in her last year of life some what.

Unless your vet thinks there is some serious health issue, I myself, would not have anything invasive done.

There is, however, the possibility of your kitten carrying the herpes virus, putting him on l-lysine will help, if this is the case.

That's fascinating! My white, deaf cat, Clyde, has had a blocked tear duct for a long time. It would get crusty on his skin and dirty, but he didn't like getting it wiped off. Then, recently, he got an abcess from playing with Smudge and had to go on antibiotics. Suddenly, his eye cleared up. It's still a very tiny bit watery, but not the goopy down the nose anymore!